Federal Judge Cancels Coho Salmon Protection
A federal judge threw out a regulation that protected coho salmon spawned in the Oregon wild but not those raised in hatcheries, saying it didn’t make sense to distinguish between the two.
District Judge Michael J. Hogan said the National Marine Fisheries Service was arbitrary and capricious in 1998 when it put Oregon coastal coho born in the wild onto the threatened species list without extending the same protection to those from hatcheries.
Finding no genetic difference between individual wild fish and those from hatcheries, he sent the matter back to the fisheries service for reconsideration.
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